DROM KOTAR MESTIPEN
The Romani Association of Women Drom Kotar Mestipen is a non-profit organization created in 1999 by Roma and non-Roma women with different characteristics and backgrounds. It is a national organization, carrying its activities out mainly at regional level. It was created to overcome the triple exclusion suffered by Roma women: for being women (gender discrimination) belonging to an ethnic minority group (ethnic exclusion) that have been deprived of adequate access to the education (academic filter). It works with the promotion of social, political and economic opportunities for the Roma women, Roma identity and Roma adult education.
The ROM-ACT Project (2013 -2014) is aimed at widening access to non-formal and informal learning validation systems among Roma and Traveller women in Europe in order to strengthen their educational, social, and labour inclusion.
Previous research studies highlight that the Roma and Traveller communities have developed specific abilities and competences related to the type of work they do, but that most of them do not have academic qualifications and formal work experience.
The aim of ROM-ACT consortium is to improve the current non-formal and informal validation systems in Europe, bringing them closer to the needs of non-academic people and disadvantaged groups such as the Roma and Traveller communities, as well as to improve the access to the non-formal and informal learning validation systems.
MAIN OUTPUTS:
- Five national reports and one European Report on the current status of non-formal and informal learning validation systems in Europe
- Policy recommendations of Roma and Traveller women and representatives of centres for adult education and Roma and Traveller organizations.
- An awareness raising campaign which will include, among other things, a DVDcollecting interviews to Roma and Traveller women explaining their learning validation experiences, a European guide to support organizations in the accompaniment of non-academic groups through the validation process, and a project website.
- A lobbying campaign to impact validation policies
- A network of associations involved in validation accompaniment
- Three consortium meetings (16-17 May 2013, Barcelona; 29-30 March 2014, Bucharest; and 15 April 2015, Brussels ) as well as a European conference
With these results, the project will benefit not only Roma and Traveller women but all disadvantaged groups.